


Lights of the City

by DistantStar



Category: clexa - Fandom
Genre: Artist Clarke, F/F, Fluff, Pianist Lexa, no smut in this one, sorry - Freeform, the bus fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:15:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22076800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DistantStar/pseuds/DistantStar
Summary: Clarke finally has a chance to showcase her artwork, but she has to take a bus downtown to get to the studio. This was her dream, she always thought...that was until a certain brunette gets onto the bus too...
Relationships: Clarke Griffin/Lexa
Comments: 12
Kudos: 115





	Lights of the City

Seated next to the bus window Clarke stared out and watched the city outside roll by. Downtown Polis was a busy area, and she wasn’t sure if, when reaching her destination, she would be able to sell her art well enough to get a place in the gallery to display it. She was hopeful, she was also nervous, and the bus was already full today. So when it rolled up to its next stop she clutched her well-loved portfolio just a little tighter.

With a loud squeal the doors opened on each end and people got up, the old lady with the wide straw hat next to her, the man that had a walking stick, along with them a half dozen people exited the back of the bus while at the front of the bus a new half dozen got on; a woman pushing a rolling cart full of groceries. Clarke pulled in her feet to let her pass. Next came a woman with two small children,

“Emma, sit down right there!” the woman yelled at the older girl while she struggled with a toddler’s hand. Emma could have been no more than four and, clutching her Cheeto bag, plopped right down in a seat next to Clarke and looked up at her,

“Hi.” the kid grinned at her with an orange cheese covered face.

Clarke smiled back, “hi.” she tried not to think of cheese dust getting all over her drawings..

Emma pulled a cheeto out of the bag and offered it, “for you?”

“No, thank you..” she answered Emma, gripping her portfolio tighter still and twisting it as much as she could away from the child. Emma just grinned and popped the cheeto into her own mouth. She wiped her hands on her pants as she did. Emma’s mom plopped down on the other side of the little girl and grabbed her by the arm,

“I told you not to talk to strangers.”

Clarke didn’t want the kid there, but she was surprised with how angry the mother seemed. Though she couldn’t blame her. She couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to have to ride the city bus with two small kids--

“Right there’s the step,” an assuring, feminine voice echoed through the bus and the sound of it alone had Clarke’s head whipping up. She looked up in time to see another passenger, a woman about her age, with long chestnut curls falling over one shoulder, helping an elderly man and woman onto the bus. The old woman was blind and using a cane to feel her way and people were mumbling and muttering and having to shuffle their feet out of the way but no one even got up as the old woman stood in the middle of the bus.

Clarke was on her feet instantly, “here ma’am,” she moved forward and took the woman’s arm, “you can sit right here.” she helped the woman to the seat she had just been seated in,

“Thank you, dear.” the old woman sat down gratefully. And Clarke looked up in time to see the other girl helping the man get on the bus next. Thankfully, another passenger got out of his seat,

“He can sit here..” the man moved to the back of the bus.

“Thanks,” Clarke answered, and with the help of the brown haired girl, got the old man into a seat that was at least across from his wife. Once he was seated though, the bus jolted forward. Clarke grabbed onto a pole with one hand to keep from falling and held onto her portfolio with the other. The girl with the brown hair, who was still facing the old man, grabbed on for balance too. And in all the jolting around bumped into Clarke and they were face to face, just inches apart. Clarke found herself looking into the most beautiful eyes she’d ever seen.

Seconds seemed to tick past, but she was frozen, and she was on fire. It seemed like every inch of her body that touched the girl’s, wanted more. Her brain spun away from the bus she was on, for once, it even spun away from the portfolio still clutched tightly in her hand..

“I’m sorry,” the girl spoke up, “I didn’t mean to..”

Clearing her throat, Clarke found her voice, “no..” she rasped out, trying not to look down the front of the girl’s shirt pressed right against hers, “its okay. It happens.” she made herself take a step back. But she had to swallow hard to do it.

The girl nodded, “it does.” Green eyes stared into hers, and Clarke could almost see the secrets sparkling in them. She could see the absolute wonder. She wet her lips, because she knew she should say something. She at least had to tell her her name, “I’m-”

-the bus jolted to a stop, ripping her out of the spell she felt like she was in. She felt a tiny hand grab at her lower pants leg and looked down to see that Emma had smeared cheese all over her black slacks, “dammit….” Clarke started wiping it off.

“Let me help,” the brunette was on her knees in an instant, wiping at it with a handkerchief as Emma was dragged off the bus with her sibling by her mother. Clarke stood staring as the bus started rolling forward again. The girl smiled at her and stood, “did you want to sit?” she motioned to the vacated seats.

Clarke nodded dumbly, and watched as the girl plopped herself down into one of the chairs. Slowly, she moved and sat in the other. The bus rolled on. And it took everything Clarke had in her to not stare. The girl motioned to her portfolio,

“Do you draw?”

Clarke nodded, “I do.”

A half smile curved the girl’s pretty face, “is that where you’re going?”

Clarke nodded, her eyes following the girl’s sharp jaw. Oh, god, she was beautiful. Suddenly Clarke’s fingers itched to draw her, “yeah…” she stuttered, “yeah..um, what is it you do?”

“I teach music,” the girl shrugged a little.

“Oh!” Clarke beamed at her, “a musician?”

“Yes.” Shel answered.

“How do you find students?”

“I advertise. You know, online, craigslist, places like that?” she wiped hair out of her eyes, “I also have a recital hall.”

Clarke nodded, “what kind of music do you teach?” she asked. She was aware of her stop coming up soon. And she was aware that she had to get on with her day. But she just wanted to sit right here, and keep talking.

“Piano mostly,” the girl said, “some others.”

That had Clarke looking at the girl’s hands, and beautiful fingers, “you have long fingers,” she said, and could have slapped herself and tried to recover, “I bet you are good with them.” yeah, she failed and just wanted to die now. But the girl was smiling in amusement. Turning pink, she looked around for something else to talk about. But right as she did, she noticed the bus pulling up to her stop. Her heart sank a little as she stood up, “this is it.”

“Your stop?” she asked, and looked at where they were too. Clarke saw the gallery building just outside the bus window,

“Yeah.” she shrugged, “I have to go.”

The girl nodded, “it was nice talking to you.”

“You too.” Clarke murmured.

“Have a good day,” the girl said, “Good

luck with your art.”

“You with your music,” Clarke smiled at her and moved to the bus door. Turning back she waved goodbye to the girl with the brown hair, before taking a deep breath and stepping off the bus. Clarke stood on the curb a second while it rumbled behind her, letting people off and on. The building was in front of her, her future and dreams, or so she thought. She took a step toward it but couldn’t get the girl out of her head. She couldn’t shake the idea of - not wanting to leave her behind and she hadn’t even got her name yet, “what the fuck am I doing?” Clarke asked herself. What if her future and her dreams were actually still on the bus behind her?

Dropping her portfolio on the sidewalk she whipped about. But she was too late. The bus was already pulling away from the curb, and all she could do was stand there and watch as it disappeared into the busy city traffic.

Heart sinking inside her, knowing she had just let something amazing slip through her fingers, Clarke heaved a sigh, picked up her scattered artwork, stuffed it back into her portfolio and trudged through the glass door of gallery behind her.

-=-

Lexa grunted a little as she dragged herself up a flight of stairs, arms full of installment cases and her briefcase, to her studio. Struggling for balance, she unlocked the door and kicked it open gently before stumbling in and dropping everything in the dark near the wall. Heaving a sigh of relief, she wiped hair out of her face, and switched the light on before closing the door. Sagging against it she closed her eyes and sighed in relief.

It had been a long day, having started with her car breaking down down town. But that had led to the encounter with the blonde on the bus. A smile twitched on Lexa’s face, remembering how the blonde had stumbled over words. It had been incredibly cute, but she knew it had been nothing. Probably the blonde was straight, and it didn’t matter anyway. Because she hadn’t even gotten her name and she’d been kicking herself all day for that. A soft meow made her open her eyes and she smiled when she saw her cat, Halfnote, jump down from the ledge of the wall windows and trot over white carpet and around the edge of the couch toward her.

“Hey buddy,” Lexa pushed off the wall and he started purring and rubbing her legs, “hungry or something?” He stopped and meowed again. Lexa snorted in amusement. Leaning down she pulled off one shoe and then the other before starting toward the kitchen, “let’s get you something to eat.”

Halfnote took off like a shot in front of her. Laughing and rolling her eyes at him, Lexa followed him to the kitchen and switched on the light. He was waiting on the tile in front of the pantry door. Lexa shook her head and opened it up and got out a can of his food, “you act like I never feed you, you know.” He meowed at her again. Shaking her head, Lexa grabbed one of his clean bowls from the pantry as well, scooped the food in and put it on the floor. With Halfnote taken care of and happily purring away as he scarfed down his dinner Lexa’s phone started ringing in her pocket. Drifting back toward the living area she answered it, “hello?”

_ “Lexa?” _ it was Anya, and she sounded excited,  _ “how did it go? Did you get it?” _

Lexa laughed and moved toward the windows and looked out over the lights of the city, “good. It went good…” she thought of the blonde on the bus again. She wished she could have seen some of her drawings.

_ “You going to tell me or what?” _ she heard Anya pop something into her mouth and start crunching on it over the phone.

Lexa grinned wide, “there was a girl on the bus today, An. She was-”

_ “-what?” _ Anya sounded confused, _ “what about the interview?” _

Sitting on the edge of the windowsill Lexa was breathless just by the way her heart was speeding up, just talking about her. Her eyes fell closed and she smiled a dopey smile,“yeah.. a girl. She’s an artist. I met her on the bus this morning and-”

_ “-Lexa!” _ Anya shouted over the phone, making Lexa jump and her eyes snap open,  _ “what are you talking about? Did you even go to the interview?” _

“I did,” Lexa nodded quickly, remembering suddenly what Anya was talking about. But she bit her lip to keep from smiling, determined to make her sister ask,

_ “Well?? Did you get it?” _

“I did!” Lexa grinned wide, “An! I’m on the soundtrack!”

_ “Oh fuck, oh fuck!”  _ Anya’s curses were filled with excitement. Lexa was nodding quickly too and smiling so wide it hurt her face. Anya’s curses turned to laughter and then coughing as she tried to get it together,  _ “You did it! I just can’t...!” _

Lexa jumped down from the window, “I couldn’t believe it either!” she started to pace back and forth, “now, I am going to have to leave town for several months and go to New York to work with the crew. I’d have to find a temp for my students. But An! I’m on the soundtrack!”

_ “Here I thought you messed it all up for a girl.”  _ Anya laughed over the phone.

Lexa blinked and paused and remembered the blonde again, “what a girl, though.”

_ “Think you will see her again?”  _ Anya fired off a couple of questions,  _ “did you get her name?” _

“I hope so,” But it was a one time occasion she was sure because she didn’t normally take the bus. Lexa cringed meekly and admitted, “I didn’t…”

_ “Useless.” _ Anya laughed,  _ “but hey?” _

“Hmmm?” Lexa was blushing but hummed into the phone. She drifted into the second bedroom that she’d re-purposed as an office and turned her computer on.

Her sister sounded sincere,  _ “I’m glad you are at least looking again.” _ there was a soft smile in Anya’s voice that made Lexa take a soft breath and rub her forehead,

“Me too.” A pause followed, and went on long enough for Lexa to feel a little uncomfortable and she found herself staring blankly at the home-screen of her computer and toying with the edge of her desk. Finally Anya broke the silence,

_ “Can I take you to breakfast in the morning? You know, to celebrate?” _

Lexa’s smile was back, “yeah. That would be fun.”

_ “Congrats, Lex.” _ Anya said at last,  _ “I mean really. I’m so fucking proud of you.” _

“Thanks An.” Lexa answered.

_ “I’ll call in the morning.” _

“Okay,” Lexa looked up as her cat wandered into the room, jumped up into the windowsill and started purring as he lay down.

_ “Bye.” _

“Bye,” Lexa said, hanging up the call she put down her phone and sank into her chair. It had been a day, and as all of it rushed through her mind again she opened up a web-browser and turned to craigslist intent on finding a substitute for her students for the next few months. But as she browsed the local listings of the section for music and instruction her eyes fell on the title of one listing about halfway down.

_ ‘To the Piano Teacher on the Bus this Morning’ _

That certainly could not be for her. Though she found it very odd. Furrowing her brow, Lexa clicked the link anyway and when the page opened up started to read,

_ ‘I met you on the bus this morning. You helped an old man and woman board. You helped when a kid got cheese on my pants. I hope that you find this. I would love to talk to you and really wish I got your name. -Clarke.’ _

It was for her. Lexa felt her heart give a hard thump in her chest when she realized it was the blonde from the bus. Sitting there staring at the message she read it again and again but still couldn’t believe it. She thought back on her again, thought of the way she smiled when she talked, and she realized that the blonde, Clarke, Lexa glanced again at the name, must have remembered what she said about Craigslist. Before her nerves could get the better of her, Lexa quickly clicked reply.

-=-

On the other side of town, Clarke paced her loft apartment. She got the spot at the Gallery. It was a pure stroke of luck that they thought the crumpled pages of her work and the dirt smeared on them was artistic genius. But all day she hadn’t been able to think of anything else but the girl from the bus.

“She will never write back,” Clarke muttered to herself. She knew odds were the girl wouldn’t even see the message. But it was the only chance she had. Stopping pacing Clarke gripped her head in her hands and heaved a sigh of frustration. Why? Why hadn’t she at least gotten her name. That very minute the email notification on her phone dinged and Clarke jumped a mile and hopefully dug it out of her pocket. The answer came from Craigslist.

Someone actually had answered. Suddenly nervous, Clarke stared at the reply in her email on her phone. Her mattress squeaked as she sank onto it because suddenly it felt like her legs couldn’t hold her up. Biting her lip, and holding her breath, she opened the email,

_ ‘Hi Clarke,’ _ it said,  _ ‘I would be that piano teacher. By the way, my name is Lexa.’ _

**Author's Note:**

> You can find out more about fics like this one on my Tumblr at [adistantstarblog](https://adistantstarblog.tumblr.com/fics) Happy New Year everyone!


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